August 6, 2021 Free Writes Hospital Ordeal It started the night before. I had chills which required three blankets, and I could not pass urine and was constipated. In the morning Baladeva phoned Ryan Marshall, our primary care provider, and told him I was not passing urine or stool and I was coughing, vomiting and […]

July 30, 2021 IMPORTANT UPDATE: Dear Readers of Free Write Journal, On Wednesday, July 28, Satsvarupa Maharaja briefly went to the hospital to treat a flare-up of a urinary tract infection and pneumonia. He did not stay overnight but is now back at Viraha Bhavan, where he has been recovering and writing.  Free Writes Stuyvesant […]

July 23, 2021 Free Writes Prabhupada Lilamrta in Spanish Guru Prasad Maharaja, the GBC for Latin America, phoned me and informed me that the BBT has translated the Prabhupada-lilamrta into Spanish. This is very good news. They will have an inauguration ceremony on August 1st. To acknowledge this great achievement, Maharaja invited me to talk […]

July 16, 2021 Free Writes Prabhupada-lilamrta Pancharatra Prabhu has sent out questionnaires to senior devotees asking their opinion about the role of Srila Prabhupada as the Founder-Acarya and the role of diksa-gurus and siksa-gurus in ISKCON. My humble opinion is that if the devotees of ISKCON would read the seven-volume unabridged Srila Prabhupada-lilamrta, they would […]

July 9, 2021 Free Writes Five New Books At the July 3rd festival I’m distributing five new books that my disciples have never seen before. There is a tension between asking them to pay for all the books or to just give a donation for whatever they can afford. I don’t want to come off […]

July 2, 2021 Free Writes Radha-Govinda Radha-Govinda just had a change of dress. A main color is yellow-cream. It has red trim. Radharani’s skirt has two large peacocks. Thin waist, prominent bosom, long black braid, Sri Rupa says, “like a cobra.” Govinda’s turban is russet in color and expertly made with a peacock feather on […]

June 25, 2021 Free Writes July 3rd Speaking At the July 3rd festival, I’m going to speak about our group out-loud readings. We started 2021 with the Caitanya-caritamrta, and now we are in the Eighth Canto of Srimad-Bhagavatam. Then I’ll introduce the new books I’ve published, which most of the audience will not have seen, […]

June 18, 2021 Free Writes Marriage In the very early years of ISKCON, Swamiji personally acted as matchmaker in marriages. In 1968, I was living in the small Boston storefront temple with two other devotees. One was a girl, Jadurani, and one was a brahmacari, Pradyumna. And I was also a brahmacari and the temple […]